Some people are just born to be strong and European powerlifting champion Chris Jenkins is no different. His squatting techniques are awesome.

The Welshman has forged freakish strength for his size. At 90kg he can squat more than 310kg – raw!

Jenkins is determined to break the all-time powerlifting 90kg squat world record which stands at a frightening 352.5kg, held by the famous Ernie Lilliebridge Jnr.

Having met him on a shoot at the Cwrt Herbert Sports Centre in his native South Wales I don’t doubt he will smash that record.

The shoot was for Muscle & Fitness magazine for a feature all about Jenkins’ bulletproof eight-week squat programme which helped him win the European Powerlifting Championships in 2014. The article shows you how to get the most from your leg workout.

What impressed me about Jenkins was that he was not built like your typical big-bellied powerlifter. He is lean and aesthetic and probably wouldn’t look out of place on stage at a bodybuilding show.

In fact, Jenkins is lifelong friends with Olympia 212 legend Flex Lewis and the pair always joke that he should join him in the sport.

The 33-year-old’s hardcore plan is based around bumping up your squat numbers and included three assistance exercises.

There was hardly any room in the gym so we lugged the squat rack down into the sports hall below to get the shots we needed.

I set up Jenkins doing some basic instructional shots of the stiff-leg deadlift, front squat and narrow stance squat with the barbell.

Then I set to work capturing some portraits of him showing off his impressive physique. I got him to pose with his medals and also took some strong shots of him gripping onto a barbell loaded up with weight plates.

While Jenkins is strong, he is also pretty athletic – he is a black belt in Karate and can run the 100m sprint in 11 seconds. Part of the brief from Muscle & Fitness was to try and capture this so I got Jenkins performing some box jumps.

I think the results from the shoot looked pretty good in the feature which appeared in M&F January 2015. Have a look at the gallery below…